IMImobile in talks to buy US mobile data company for $80 million

KOLKATA: Hyderabad-based IMImobile, which remotely delivers mobile data infrastructure services to the likes of MTN, Vodafone Plc and Deutsche Telekom, is in advanced talks to snap up a US mobile data company for roughly $80 million, a top executive with direct knowledge of the talks told ET.

The target company, it is learnt, has close relationships with AT&T and Verizon, and IMImobile is looking to take the acquisitions route to enter the US and Canada markets over the next six months. The objective is to leverage the target company's range of mobile content applications to deliver a mix of marketing, advertising and mobile VAS solutions over the biggest mobile networks in the US. If the deal goes through, the company sees the US and Canada markets generating an additional $200 million annually from 2013-14.

IMImobile will shortly go in for a fresh wave of VC financing to conclude the deal. Noted Silicon Valley VC, Sequoia Capital, UK's Spark Ventures and New York-based FirstMark Capital, who own roughly 56% of IMImobile, are likely to provide majority of the funds.

"We've identified several target companies in the North American mobile data space, which have strong delivery models but are hamstrung by high cost-structures. We are closely working with a clutch of top VC firms and a deal is expected by early 2012," IMImobile founder and CEO Vishwanath Alluri told ET, but declined to divulge the name of the company.

MAPE Advisory Group may be roped in as advisor but Alluri declined to confirm this.

At present, IMImobile only has a token presence in the US, courtesy a few servers co-located in a Miami datacentre which are managed remotely from its NOC (network operating centre) in Hyderabad. While it works with Canadian telco, Rodgers, the US deal is expected to give IMImobile access to AT&T and Verizon's customers.

"Our managed services model on IMImobile's proprietary Da Vinci platform has seen widespread deployment in Africa and Europe and we plan to replicate it in the US," said Alluri.